Is the climate change movement splintering?

Climate change activists are regrouping post-Copenhagen – and some are reasserting their radical roots

Bibi van der Zee – 25th February, 2010

The climate change movement is dead, long live the climate change movement! was the proclamation made last week by Rising Tide North America, as green campaigners around the world begin coming to terms with the switchback ride of the last three months.

‘A particular model of dealing with climate change is dying. It is revealing itself before the world as nothing more than a final scramble for the remaining resources of a planet in peril,’ states a quote from Naomi Klein at the beginning of the document, before stating:

‘Many in the climate movement have grown all too cosy with the status quo. The ‘bold’ action they call for will result in the privatisation of the air, to be divided up by mega-polluters. Their demands for carbon neutrality seek to offset our problems onto poor countries while the rich keep burning and consuming. Those who still cling to the old climate movement have committed themselves to a sinking ship.’